Tractor Scars
by Charxelle
Summary: Claire and Doctor are happily married & for the winter thanksgiving, instead of the girl giving the guy a gift, Doctor give Claire a BIG gift. Little do they know that the seemingly harmless gift will bring tragedy upon the both of them. GIRLPOWAHFIC
1. Happy Winter Thanksgiving

Harvest Moon – Tractor Scars

It was a peaceful winter day.

Was.

One rock was the catalyst of it all.

The low humming sound lingered until it was pierced.

The pure white snow was colored with fright.

--

It was just after the winter thanksgiving festival.

Doctor stayed home all day, cleaning up the house while I took care of my animals and bought things in town.

He prepared a splendid dinner: Strawberry milk with honey and roast beef with gravy. For the most part, I was impressed, seeing him _actually _cooking without my help, despite the winter thanksgiving being the day where it's the girls who do the giving.

That is, until, he needed a band-aid.

Call it ESP or a woman's intuition or whatnot…but I noticed he was hiding something from me. Something good, mind you. Like a birthday present. Doctor was practically smiling the whole day. When I woke up that morning, he was staring at me with a smile.

No, not the smile of a gentle, kind husband. The smile of _mischievousness. _

"Good morning, Claire!"

"Uh, good morning…what's up?"

"It's the Winter Thanksgiving!"

"It's cold. Hug me."

What he gave me was a kiss.

--

After stopping by to talk with Ann (and getting some cooking tips), I went to the beach. Being naturally a city girl who would sit in front of the AC on high while reading manga, I liked to feel the breeze on my face.

While strolling along the shoreline, waiting for Zack, one of my best friends, to come back (he had gone on the ship to transport goods back and forth), I fished out of my rucksack a chocolate bar I had bought for myself.

Before long, Zack's small ship _The Lily _(guess who he named that after) came into sight. I ran to the edge of the dock, jumped, and waved at him with a big childish smile on my face.

"ZAAAAAAAACK!"

_The Lily _tooted its foghorn in reply. From afar, I could see that a slightly bigger cargo ship was behind it.

In about fifteen minutes, they arrived on the dock.

"Hey, there, Claire!" Zack gave me one of his crunchy bearhugs. Lately, I've been avoiding them because, well, Doctor told me to stop coming home with a bandaged chest but Zack's been gone for about a week so what's another broken rib?

"GAH!" My breath was knocked out of me. "Nice…to see you too…Zack…_let go!"_

"Sorry!" he said with a huge smile and dropped me, coughing on the dock.

"Did you get what I asked for?" I said as soon as I turned my normal color.

"Yup! Just a sec." Zack went into his ship and came out with my DVD player and a boxful of DVDs.

"Yeay!" I jumped for joy in the snow-covered sand when he set it down on the snow-covered bench beside his snow-covered shop. "Took you long enough!"

Zack scratched the back of his head. "Sorry 'bout that Claire. An' I have to bring out the other stuff so I gotta talk to ya later."

I peered at the bigger cargo ship. "Seems like a lot of other stuff…"

"Oh, that? Nah, that's just one big thing. The rest is the usual, y'know," He glanced at the other ship, which I noticed was named _October. _The sailor waved at us.

I hauled the DVD player and the DVDs into my arms and waved Zack goodbye. I awkwardly walked home, peering over the boxes and occasionally tripping over snow-covered rocks. Only when I got home I was able to walk properly.

"Claire!" Doctor happened to be checking the mail at the farm's snow-covered entrance and he came over to help me. He struggled carrying the snow-covered box of DVDs (which, of course, was at least twice the weight of the player itself). Being the half of the couple that had more bicep, I carried the box of DVDs and he carried the player. No debate over the male ego so it's all good.

--

After dinner while watching an old animated movie, we took a bath while discussing the movie and how the blood shouldn't have been censored with white because it looked wrong, and went to bed. Doctor's mischievous smile had eluded me.

--

I woke up to the sound of paper ripping. Doctor was sitting at the foot of the bed, reading a letter with what I imagined was a smile on his face.

"What's that, honey?" At the mention of 'what's', Doctor immediately crumpled the letter.

"Nothing, dear. Did I wake you up? How are you feeling?" Seriously, not to offend you, my dear, but a 10-year old could lie better than you _and_ get away with it.

I stroked his messy black hair. "Is it bad? Something I shouldn't see?"

"Uh, no, it's…just not worthy for your beautiful blue eyes," he said, batting his eyelashes at me while his hands crumpled the letter even more. I pouted.

"I believe _I_ should be the one to judge whether something is unworthy of my '_beautiful blue eyes'_, shouldn't it? How dare you hide something from your wife." I snatched the crumpled letter from his _'beautiful pale hands'_ before he could say 'Hey!'

The letter was written with what looked like a first grade student's handwriting, which I could definitely recognize as Zack's. Ha, I could imagine him snapping a few pens with his huge hands while writing this short letter.

The letter read:

Dear Mr. Doctor,

The thing you ordered just arrived yesterday. It's kinda big so I'll have to drive it over there myself, if you don't mind. I'll have to pass through the south entrance of the farm, though. I'll be there around 5pm.

Sincerely,

Zack 

Yup, I taught him the smiley face.

Doctor sighed in defeat, sitting on the bed as I read the letter.

"What's this 'thing'?" I asked, rereading the letter.

"That," he daintily lifted the letter from my hands, "Is a surprise. That's coming at 5 o' clock later this afternoon."

"Tell me now," I said, clutching his pajama collar, holding him close to my face. "Or I'll purposely make myself pass out," Yes, I have that ability of working myself to near death.

First, Doctor just stared at me, ready to give in but after about 3 seconds, he came up with a _witty_ reply.

"Well then if you pass out, you won't be able to see the surprise then, would you?"

"Hmph…that took you a long time to think up. I should probably teach you some smart comebacks sometime. You're such a country boy!" I shoved him back on the pillows and we chuckled while I stood to dress up. It was Wednesday so Doctor could spend the day in his pajamas.

When I was done putting on my winter clothes, he was preparing breakfast. I ran for the door.

"Claire! Don't think you can skip breakfast!" he called from the door as I crunched through the wet snow.

"I'm trying to cut down! I'm getting fat!" I yelled back.

"Skipping breakfast will make you, in your words, fatter! You're supposed to eat so that your metabolism can break down the food and consume…"

By the time he finished his sentence, I was already feeding my cows and sheep in the barn. Science wasn't my thing anyway.

One thing about the farm that Doctor didn't like is the fact that he thought the barns were 'unsanitary'. He thought that cows, sheep, and chickens shouldn't be walking the same place they're pooping, or as my he said, _defecating_. I'd like to see him toilet-train a chicken, that's what.

On the other hand, one thing I didn't like about his clinic was that they only had one stretcher. The clinic's nice and Elli's really sweet but not if she had more than one patient on a stretcher. There was this incident last winter when Cliff, the guy who works at the Aja Winery, collapsed in the town square. I happened to see him and carry him to the clinic.

Then, two days later, I collapsed while mining for silver. When I arrived at the clinic, I was half-conscious Doctor was beside me but I saw Elli with Cliff over her shoulder, stomping up the stairs! I mean…sometimes I question _how_ my husband runs his business. I did ask him about it and he said that Cliff was put on his bed on the second floor.

Hm…knowing that Cliff works with soil and grapes all day and the fact that Doctor is…quite a neat freak (but in an oh so sweet way), I'd bet a day's eggs that they just put him on a futon on the floor with a warm glass of milk to compensate.

--

"Oh crud, it's 5:00! I gotta go, Ells!"

"Oh, ok! I'll talk to you later, Claire! Tell me what the surprise is, ok?"

"Sure thing, Ells!

I was chatting with Elli at the supermarket. I was buying cooking oil and flour and she was paying the electricity bills for the clinic. I lost track of time when we both started talking about our favorite topic: _men._ Elli and I are best friends too so of course I knew about her crush on Doctor. Problem was, I did too but we were best friends so we never fought over him. We decided if he ended up with one of us, that'd be good enough.

"Hey wait, you didn't pay for those!!!"

Suddenly remembering Doctor's 'surprise', I ran as fast as I could to the farm, with groceries in hand.


	2. Beautiful Red Flower

Tractor Scars 2

I ran as fast as I could to the farm with groceries in hand. My scarf even fell off and I didn't notice until Manna, the wife of the owner of the winery, caught up with me and gave it back.

When I arrived at the entrance, I was expecting the thing to be there, since it _is_ supposed to be something of a vehicle. I scanned the farm for a sign of something sticking out in the snow but I couldn't see anything.

I went into the house first to warm up. Doctor wasn't there for some reason. Maybe he went out? When he does that, he usually leaves a note but there was no note.

I grabbed a bottle of milk and heated it up. Then I went outside to go look around.

Just then, I remembered that the 'thing' was going to come from the south side of the farm. Dangit!

I whistled for my horse, Snackee, and we galloped to the far side of the farm. Poor Doctor was there, in his white coat and scarf, shivering his toes off, standing next to, hey, what do you know, a snow-covered _tractor!!!_

I got off Snackee, staring at the dark blue tractor, with a slight dusting of snow on top. Then at Doctor, whose scarf was covering his cheeks and mouth but he had the sweetest look in his eyes.

"Happy Winter Thanksgiving, Claire! I know it's a day late but-"

It was hopelessly cold and it was snowing but apparently, he didn't care because he waited out here for me and the idea of kissing in the snow was kinda cheesy, but utterly romantic.

When we separated, we stared at each other's eyes. Then I let myself go loose.

"OOOOOOOOOHHHHHH MY _GODDEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSS!!!!!_ YOU GOT ME A _TRACTORRR!!!!_ WOOOOWW!W!!! And it's _BLUE!!!_ MY _SECOND FAVORITE COLOR!!!"_ I practically glomped the tractor. It was almost twice my height and I wouldn't even think about the weight, much less the cost.

"Ah, don't stick your face to the metal, dear. It'll stick to your skin!" he reprimanded me.

"Oh, shut up, honey, let me enjoy my tractor!" I said as I awkwardly climbed up the seat. I squealed with joy when I saw that there was a big red bow on the steering wheel. "Now tilling the fields will be _so_ much easier!"

"Why not give it a test drive?" Doctor smiled as he reached up and handed me the keys, which also had a red bow on them.

"YEAAAAY!!!" I grabbed his arm instead and raised him onto the tractor. "Let's test drive it together!" I said, scooting aside so he could sit.

"But Claire," he said with a joking smile. "There's only one driver's seat."

"Oh, what would happen? I'm smaller than you. We fit. Sit!" I grabbed his shoulder and plopped him down next to me then I turned on the ignition with a satisfying hum of the engine.

"Ready?" I grinned at Doctor, who looked like he was going to fall once we started moving.

"There…_THERE AREN'T ANY SEATBELTS!" _He exclaimed, searching around for a seatbelt.

I sighed. "This is a tractor, honey. If I had to put on the seatbelt, drive it around, take the seatbelt off and get down, then get up on it again and put on the seatbelt, it would be more of an inconvenience, wouldn't it?"

"Um, um…that's the _point_ of the seatbelt and it would be safer-AAAAAHHH!!!" I pushed on the pedal and the tractor plowed on slowly. I was having the time of my life while my husband was clinging on my arm.

"Honey, we're going really slowly. There's nothing to be scared of," I told him.

The tractor hummed as we went along, making tire tracks in the snow. I turned the wheel slowly and made a u-turn.

"Haven't you ever ridden a car before? Come on, you studied in a suburban place," I said. He was still clinging to me. "Besides, weren't you the one who chose this tractor?"

"Not me, Zack recommended it. He said it was a good one so I left it up to him to decide," He said shakily.

"Well, Zack's choice was good! If you had ordered the tractor yourself, you might've custom made it to be made out of pillows."

I sped up the tractor a little. Doctor just tightened his grip on my arm.

"Here, I got you some warm milk," I handed him the bottle.

"Keep your hands on the _wheel!!!"_

"Honey…I _have_ driving experience, just so you remember."

Doctor let go of his vice grip on my arm and sipped the warm milk. After a few more rounds around the farm and a few more sips of milk, he started to calm down and enjoy the ride.

"You could've just given this to me during the spring thanksgiving, you know. A tractor's kinda useless during winter and maintenance is kinda rough when it's cold," I said.

"Well, the tractor didn't make it to your birthday last month so I figured I'd give it to you in the next festival."

When I looked at him, he had a kind smile on his flushed face.

"Thanks, I really like-WAAAAHH!!!"

"AAAAAHHH!"

The tractor ran over a big rock and shook. I heard glass shattering.

I held onto my steering wheel as I braced for another bump. The tractor shook again and I hit the brake.

I sighed. Only a split second later did I realize Doctor wasn't beside me anymore. I looked back and I just stared at the snow.

The tractor's tire tracks made interesting patterns in the snow, looping this way and that. The tire tracks led to Doctor, who lay on the snow, surrounded by a gradually growing beautiful red flower. Glass fragments sparkled by his hand and on his thigh.

His tousled hair was gracefully spread out over the snow. His eyes were closed and they looked peaceful. His rosy cheeks complimented the red flower and the snow. His soft, pale lips were slightly open.

Only did I realize that what I was looking at wasn't beautiful at all when blood started coming out of those soft pale lips.

It was a peaceful winter day.

Was.

One rock was the catalyst of it all.

The low humming sound lingered until it was pierced.

The pure white snow was colored with fright.


	3. Rush

Tractor Scars 3

I had run over Doctor with my tractor.

My first reaction was to scream and kneel beside him in the red-stained snow and to curse under my breath.

"Honey! Doctor! DOCTOR! Oh goddess help me…"

Fortunately there were no tears to blind my vision because as if the Harvest Goddess heard my cry for help, Rick, the guy who runs the chicken farm, happened to pass by the east side of the farm, where only a picket fence separated the path from the farm.

"Claire? _OH GODDESS!"_ Rick ran to the farm's entrance and within seconds, he was beside us.

"What should we do?" I asked Rick, with determination in my voice.

"I-I don't know…we should probably carry him to the clinic…" Rick suggested, swallowing a lump in his throat.

"I don't know…I think I might have broken something…it's too risky…" I said.

Without as second thought, I bent down and clamped my mouth down on Doctor's. I tried to force air into his system and pump it down in his chest. I tried it a second time.

He didn't breathe. He just vomited more blood.

With no more options left, I put my arms under his knees the small of his back and lifted Doctor up on my shoulder, powered by adrenalin. I could feel blood seeping through my jacket. Doctor let out a very faint moan.

"A-are you sure about that? Do you want me to carry him?" Rick frantically offered.

"It's fine for now. I'll ride to the clinic. He feels broken though…" I said, remembering how his back felt on my arms. I whistled for Snackee and hoisted Doctor on him first and then myself. Carefully, and as fast as possible, I positioned him to sit in front and lean on my shoulder. One arm held him fast to me and one arm holding tightly to the reins.

"Call a doctor from out of town! I think he needs more help than just medicine," I told Rick, who immediately ran to phone a doctor.

With more blood dripping out of his mouth and onto my clothes, Snackee and I galloped out of the farm, despite the rules against bringing the horse out of the farm and went straight to the clinic. I held Doctor as tightly as possible so that he wouldn't move around due to the galloping.

"Please be okay. You know I can't live without you," I silently whispered to Doctor, praying that he would hear through the thundering hooves. Tears slowly squeezed out of my eyes. I blinked them back so I could see where I was going.

My riding through the town with a bleeding half-corpse (I'm sorry! I said_ I'm sorry! _I love you, honey!) earned me a few 'heys!' and 'woahs!' from passers-by.

Finally arriving at the clinic, I carried Doctor bridal-style up to the front door.

"ELLI! I KNOW YOU'RE THERE! OPEN UP!" I knocked frantically. My fist left blood stains on the door.

I heard feet slowly padding down the stairs. I so wanted to swear out loud if Carter and the kids weren't just next door.

"ELLI! H-HURRY _UP!_" I screamed, getting desperate. Why couldn't she come to the friggin' door faster?

In a second, Elli finally swung open the door and she gasped at the sight while I hauled my bleeding man in and carefully put him on the stretcher. He coughed up more blood, which made me want to cough up blood too.

"Oh _goddess_, what_ happened!?_" Elli was crying as she looked at both of our bloody coats and faces.

I was out of breath. "I…told Rick to call a doctor. Clean him up…and…oh _goddess!!!"_

Tears drove me to my knees. I wailed loudly and buried my face into my bloodstained hands. I was in the middle of the clinic floor, sobbing. But no one comforted me.

Elli, knowing I'd be sobbing even louder if she were right beside me, was doing her job. While I stumbled onto a sofa in the waiting room, her expert hands peeled off Doctor's stained clothes, removed all the glass shards, disinfected and dressed all his open wounds, and performed successful CPR on him and even put an oxygen mask on him in record time.

The office's phone rang and I went to answer it, after swallowing the lump in my throat and attempting to stop hiccupping. I felt like vomiting. All the blood was starting to take an effect on me…

"H-h….hello?" I choked out.

"Is this the Mineral Town clinic?" a rather deep suave voice asked.

"Y-yes it is…*sniff*"

It was the doctor. He said he would be there in less than 10 minutes and he immediately hung up. Good thing because I needed that extra half second to grab a trash can and promptly vomit into it.

"I've done all I could do for now…" I heard Elli sigh from behind the curtains. I went over gingerly, wiping my mouth with my coat sleeve. I wasn't sure if I could handle any more blood. I didn't eat anything that day except a boiled egg and toasted rice cakes.

When I looked at my Honey, he looked so fragile. He was in a hospital gown. Doctor's hair was still wet and messy but his face had been thankfully cleaned of blood. His forehead had been bandaged up to his eyes. An oxygen mask covered his nose and mouth.

His arms were heavily and tightly bandaged and splintered, ready to be cast.

His chest, however, only had light bandage dressings that were held down with masking tape. Same with his legs, which only had light dressings on the knees and various other places.

One would sigh in relief that the chest and the legs looked like they only had minor damages, despite being run over by a _tractor._ But then one would wonder why both arms were tightly bandaged while the chest was not if he was run over by a _tractor._ And then one would assume that it was a miracle and the Harvest Goddess had blessed one and that the legs and chest were missed by the _tractor_. But after some thinking, one would come to realize that the legs looked slightly out of place and the chest hid frightening physical epiphanies inside due to being run over by the _tractor._

And these frightening epiphanies would be justified, with hesitation and desperation, by one, upon seeing the transparent tube that siphoned internal bleeding into a machine with a container. One would also, upon seeing the amount of blood in the container, throw up what was left of one's meals for the day.

Elli rubbed my back as I bent over the trash can. When I was done, I went to the bathroom to wash up and she gave me some water and sat me down on the couch. But knowing me well, she didn't ask "Are you ok?"

Instead, she said, "Doctor's stabilized for now. We just have to wait for the other doctor to come and operate."

I gingerly sipped the water and shifted in my seat. "Operate? Why?" I already knew why.

"Well," Elli hesitated. "Doctor's broken a few bones…"

I eyed her while drinking some more. She knew that look. Elli sighed in defeat.

"I guess I could give it to you straight…" I braced myself for the horrible descriptions. "His head is fine, a slight concussion and a cut, which is a dream compared to the rest of him. His arms-"

She was interrupted by the doctor coming in the clinic. The frigid frost air blasted in, making me shiver.

"Zack! Rick!" I stood up but Elli pushed me back down onto the sofa. The two coat-wrapped men held open the doors for the doctor, who seemed to be carrying his own set of tools in a suitcase.

"Are you-?" Elli asked reluctantly.

"Yes, I'll be operating on the patient now. If you don't mind, I suggest you get ready now," the doctor's professional-sounding voice said. As soon as he entered the room, he started dressing into his scrubs.

"Yes, doctor," Elli said, switching into her 'surgeon assistant mode'. She went inside Doctor's room with the doctor and got ready to operate.

I just sat there waiting in silence with Zack and Rick, silently sipping away the rest of my water. Zack and Rick were at both of my sides on the sofa, listening to the faint sounds of the operating room.

"He's from a nearby town so it didn't take a long time for him to get here," Rick said, breaking the silence.

I nodded in acknowledgement.

"Thanks, guys," I tried to smile. "Thanks for helping me out." I quickly wiped away uninvited tears.

"Aww, that's what friends are for, right, Rick?" Zack promptly gave me a comforting hug and gave Rick a thumbs-up.

"Yeah, sure. Whenever you need help, just shout…like you did back there. I'm just across the road from your farm anyway," Rick reluctantly said with a smile. Sure, he wasn't the closest of friends but that didn't matter.

More tears came out. At this point, all I could do was pray.

"Please, please, _please_…be okay…oh dear goddess, guide the surgeon and Elli's hands…"


	4. Postoperation

Tractor Scars 4

Before I knew it, I fell asleep on the waiting room couch.

When I woke up, it was midnight. The sky was dark outside but the clinic was brightly illuminated. Zack and Rick had left and I could still hear the operation going on.

"Okay, please finish the suturing. And make the casts."

"Yes, doctor."

And the doctor that arrived yesterday emerged from the operating room. I just stared at him as he sighed on the way to the washroom.

I sighed too in relief. Elli peeked out of the operating room's door and beckoned to me.

"Is he okay?" I whispered under the hum of the machines and the beeping of the ECG.

"He's fine for now. It'll take him months to get back into shape…" Elli whispered back. I just stared at Doctor on the bed, looking mostly the same since the last time I looked at him.

"How bad was it?" I asked. "And don't you sugarcoat it. You know that you can't be blamed of hurting someone with a blunt sword."

Elli sighed. "Yes, I know. Okay…he's had a concussion so there might be memory loss, his left arm is broken in two places; his right arm is in two, three broken ribs punctured his lungs, which led to internal bleeding, both legs are broken in the shins and as for the minor injuries, he had some glass shards in his hand and face." She said while putting a cast on Doctor's right arm. I just listened intently as I stared at Doctor.

Elli looked at me. "What happened to him?"

I looked down, feeling even guiltier than before.

Elli rose and put her arm around me like I needed it. "Please tell me. I have to know what happened to him."

I whispered to her what happened.

She looked shocked, like anyone would, but just nodded and said thanks and continued her work. No questions were asked.

A few minutes later, the surgeon who operated on Doctor came in with a lab gown on.

"Thank you, doctor, for saving my husband. I don't know how to thank you!" I said, holding his hands. He withdrew them, feeling awkward. He cleared his throat.

"Well, you arriving here on your horse put Doctor in a worse spot than he originally was. His legs which were most probably dangling from the side of the horse worsened his condition," he said rather matter-of-factly. Great. Now I'm even guiltier. But hey, like I said, you can't be blamed of hurting someone with a blunt sword.

"But," he added. "If you didn't move quickly, he might have died of blood loss and if not that, frostbite due to the lack of body warmth due to lack of blood. That man," he said, turning to the unconscious Doctor, "has one tough wife, I should say. He's very lucky."

I have to admit, that made me blush.

I sat down next to Doctor, stroking his hair. "You hear that, honey? You have one tough wife." Elli giggled.

Just then, the phone rang in the office. Elli rose to get it but the doctor got it first. I guess it was for him because I overheard his whole conversation. The person on the other end had a really loud, shrill voice.

"Ah, I'll be home by tomorrow, the earliest…no, I…sigh…fine, I'll bring a souvenir if I can find any…all right, goodbye."

He hung up on the person in the other end. Must be his wife or something.

"Sorry about that," he returned. "About the price of the operation…" I felt chills go up my spine, hoping I could pay it.

"The operation costs three million gold."

I jumped from my seat. "Three million gold!? That's absurd!"

"Hey, I came here as fast as I could from another country _and_ I performed the operation immediately. Isn't his life worth at least that much money?" he said with a smirk on his face.

Three million gold…Doctor and I live comfortably _with _extra money left over with about 40,000 gold.

I thought it through. Surely, he would accept payment delivered over a couple of months.

"I'll…I'll pay. But…can I pay once every two months? I'll pay you ten thousand gold every month," I said, hoping he would comply.

"Sure, but you made the rules, you'll pay ten thousand every month," he gave me his address and phone number.

"I promise. Thank you so much!"

--

At about 6am, the surgeon left for the docks. I said thanks again before he left the clinic. About 3 minutes after he left, I got up and chased after him (on my horse, or course).

"Wait!" I called.

"What is it?"

"Wait for me at the docks, I have something for you!"

"I'll try wait as long as I can."

I galloped back to the farm as fast as I could, blinking away the snow in my eyes. I grabbed the brooch Gray gave me a long time ago, put some fruits in a basket and rode my horse to the beach. The surgeon wasn't even boarding the ship yet when I arrived.

"Here!" I presented him with the brooch Gray gave me. "If you give this to the pawnshop, they might give you an equivalent of around twenty thousand gold. And here," I gave him the basket of fruits. "Someone back home wants souvenirs, right?"

The surgeon just smiled. "Thank you."

"All aboard now!!!" I heard Zack shout out. Funny thing to say, since the surgeon was the only passenger.

He waved goodbye and boarded the ship. Watching the ship leave the dock, I took my horse back to the farm, took care of the animals and went back to the clinic, bringing breakfast with me.

--

Two days later, Doctor woke up with four casts, a brace, and a slight fever.

"Open up, honey," I said, spoon-feeding him soup.

"I feel horrible having to be spoon-fed for the second time in my life…" he grumbled while chewing.

"Well suck up your pride. You're being spoon-fed for the second time in your life and you will have to until your arms heal," I shoved another spoonful of soup in him. Elli laughed in the other room.

It seemed like Doctor was thinking while he was chewing. He said nothing of the accident until he finished his soup.

"I'm sorry that this had to happen, Claire. I should've been more careful," he said, swallowing the last of the soup.

"I said to suck up your pride already," I put the soup down. "Accidents happen and they're part of life. It's just that some of the cost more than others."

"Like falling down flights of stairs in the mine," he chuckled.

"Speak for yourself!" I said, arms to my hips.

Elli entered the room with a tray of mango mousse cake.

"Oh stop your noisy bickering, kids, or you won't get any cake," she said, setting down the tray on the side table.

"Mmm, mango mousse! My favorite!" I said, taking a bite and giving Doctor some.

"My grandma taught me how to make it," Elli said. "And Stu overmixed the batter."

"Well thank Stu. I like the cake kind of chewy," Doctor said, struggling to make a thumbs-up.

--

By 2 weeks, Doctor could go home in a wheelchair. We went home late in the afternoon so it was warmer.

I kept the tractor at the far side of the farm, covering it with a canvas cloth and plastic covering.

Doctor couldn't do much work with all his limbs broken so poor Elli had to sell medicine, treat patients and do paperwork too.

--

Spring 2

By the second day of spring, I already brought the animals out and bought a lot of seeds, about 10 bags of each kind of crop. While I was doing all the hard work, Doctor just sat in his wheelchair outside by the apple tree, watching me work. It was getting quite warm so instead of the usual overalls and polo shirt, I put on some denim shorts and a light jacket.

"Gotta get the tractor!" I said, running into the house to get the keys. I was half-expecting him to stop me and scold me but he didn't. He just watched me.

I drove the tractor around the field and stopped in front of the apple tree. The growling tractor towered over Doctor and his wheelchair. He shielded his eyes while he looked up at me. I smiled down at him.

"Care to trade that cripple chair for a new set of wheels, Doctor?" I invited.

He hesitated but replied, "Only if you'll carry me up there."

I gave him a smirk.

"Lazy bum."

* * *

w00t it's finished!!! Yeaaaaayyy!!! Thanks for all the reviews guys! Even though there werent very many.

This fanfic is all about GIRL POWAH. And DoctorxClaire.

I noticed that in most fanfics (and of course, media) girls can't do much anything without the help of a guy and so here is the GIRL POWAH fanfic.

Claire sounds really sexy, if I say so myself.

^_^

Please review!!!

BTW, if anyone is wondering who is the mysterious surgeon who came out of nowhere to save out dearest Doc, why it's none other than Tezuka's Black Jack!!! Coz who else would come immediately, perform a perfect operation, charge a ridiculous amount of money, and have a shrill voice demanding he bring home a souvenir??? :D

For those who don't know Black Jack, well I think the story kinda works without knowing much about the surgeon.


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